Fried in Haverhill

By the time I reach home tomorrow, I will have been on the road a week and a day. Thank heavens for wonderful friends along the way and audiobooks.

Have HGTV on. Yes, I'd like to shop for a $550k house on St. Croix...

Binghamton, NY

Had a fairly light drive from Great Falls, although GPS a.k.a. The Dominatrix, decided to route me on the Beltway instead of taking a less obnoxious route, but The Dominatrix prefers interstates, and she is, well, The Dominatrix. And, because I zoned out, I missed an exit and ended up taking the scenic route through downtown Baltimore, but The Dominatrix was good and continued us on our way via an alternate route. And, the Beltway wasn't too bad, especially compred to what is possible.

Spending the night at the lovely home of friends Bill and Jill and was served another fab meal. I hope this is balancing out some of the crap I've been subjecting myself to. Tomorrow I'm hoping to make it to Haverhill, MA, and then be home on Wednesday. I'll be more than ready.

Great Falls, VA 2

Having a most enjoyable day after a nice sleep. Had biscuits and gravy, and blueberry muffins for breakfast, then we went to a stable where my friend volunteers with therapy for kids via horses. Then we met another old friend I hadn't seen in years and years at a restaurant. After, I helped with dinner--stuffed grape leaves, cheese in phyllo thingies, homemade rolls. Okay, I didn't help with the rolls. And then there was backlava. So yummy times. Tomorrow I'm off to Binghampton to visit other friends.

Great Falls, VA

Visiting with an old friend and her husband. There has been poy roast, Mexican hot chocolate. a dog on the loose, scotch, and lots of fond memories. Going to stay here tomorrow night as well to rest up for the final legs of the journey.

Yes, Virginia, there really is a...

In VA. Not as nasty a drive as yesterday. I guess I managed to miss the nasty weather.

Broke down and downloaded the audio of book one. I had tried to impress upon the producer that this is an American fantasy and that they should go lightly on accents. Oh well. One has to get used to the interpretations of others when it comes to illustrations, audio, whatever. Mostly I think it's well done. Otherwise, I cringe at my writing and continuity errors. I guess that's natural...?

As for yesterday's ditty, it goes like this:

The poor old slave has gone rest and now we know he's free.
His bones they lie disturb them not way down in Tennessee.

His Bones, They Lie in Tennessee....

The poor old slave has gone to rest, we know that he is free.

It was a long and dreary drive, but before we got going, I called our vet in Maine. it was clear the dog was having a problem, and I wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing to help him. It's the same stress reaction he gets when I put him in the kennel. Fortunately I'd taken leftover meds for that problem with us to NM in case I needed to kennel him. Before we left Texarkana, I stopped at the local Hellmart for baby chicken food and microwave rice, which I'll try presenting to him tomorrow.

After that, it was just a really long drive to Nashville, with two episodes of construction slow downs, and then rush hour gridlock once in Nashville. Then there was a bit of a to do trying to get to the actual hotel. If it were not listening to Elisabeth Sladen's autobiography yesterday and today, I'd have flipped out.

Now I'm watching HGTV and having tea. Tomorrow I'm doing a shorter drive that will take me halfway to my friends' house in Great Falls, VA. Dog and I really need a break. It will still be 6-7 hours, but an improvement over today. I'll rest a little more tomorrow morning.

In Texarkana

::SPLAT!::